The rumor that President-elect Trump plans to nominate Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State brought forth a torrent of establishment abuse toward Mr. Tillerson and the President-elect, but it is an inspired choice if coupled with the right team of Deputy Secretaries and Undersecretaries.

And it fulfills Donald Trump’s campaign promise to staff his foreign policy team with tough-minded private sector negotiators, rather than the stupid politicians who have given us such disasters as the Iran nuclear deal, the Trans Pacific Partnership and NAFTA.

If chosen, Tillerson would be another dramatic example of Trump’s preference for successful outsiders among his Cabinet. A 40-year employee of the energy giant, Time magazine’s Zeke J Miller claims Tillerson would be the first person in at least a century to be elevated to the post without prior government experience.

Trump initially considered former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the post, but broadened the short-list to more than a half-dozen names as the initial frontrunners drew criticism from both the Right and Left.

The consideration of Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, was viewed as an overture to the Republican Establishment. Romney, who never endorsed Trump and accused him of engaging in bigotry and misogyny, was harshly criticized by conservative and populist commentators and grassroots supporters of Mr. Trump.

When Romney was effusive in his praise of Trump when they met for dinner in New York City last month as part of the interview process, Newt Gingrich ridiculed him for “sucking up” to Trump.

Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway observed to CNN, “I’m all for party unity, but I’m not sure that we have to pay for that with the secretary of state position… We don’t even know if Mitt Romney voted for Donald Trump.”

In an interview with Fox News Sunday this week, Trump praised Tillerson and defended him from charges that he is unqualified for the post. “He’s much more than a business executive. I mean, he’s a world-class player,” Trump said.

“To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well,” Trump added. “He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company, not for himself, for the company.”

As Time’s Zeke Miller reported, Tillerson appears to share Trump’s desire to dramatically reshape the U.S.’s relationship with Russia, which has grown increasingly antagonistic amid crises in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Tillerson has been an opponent of U.S. sanctions on the Russian regime after its annexation of Crimea and involvement in Eastern Ukraine.

“We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions,” he said at his company’s annual meeting in 2014. The sanctions blocked a 12-figure partnership between Exxon and the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.

Bringing Tillerson into the administration would send a strong signal that United States’ foreign policy would focus more on economic growth and less on warmongering. That would certainly be a welcome change from the Obama disasters which were based on winless military intervention and the worst economic and trade deals in two decades.

But Tillerson, however capable a negotiator he may be, has one disadvantage in running a huge and dysfunctional bureaucracy such as the Obama – Clinton infected Department of State – he doesn’t “know the building” as longtime Washingtonians would so aptly put it.

To really drain the swamp and institute a dramatic course change at the Department of State and in US foreign policy, Mr. Trump should pair Tillerson with solid conservatives who have knowledge of how State works, and how it hasn’t worked under Obama and Clinton.

The most obvious person to fill that role is former UN Ambassador John Bolton.

No one on the Republican side knows where the bodies are buried at the State Department better than John Bolton, and no one has been more visible in criticizing and suggesting corrective action for the Obama – Clinton foreign policy disasters than Ambassador Bolton.

The problem for Mr. Trump is that John Bolton has his own Republican and conservative detractors, especially Senator Rand Paul and other critics of the George W. Bush-inspired wars in the Middle East. Bolton has been a vocal defender of those actions and is blamed, perhaps correctly, by some for being one of the principle warmongers behind the Bush policies that Mr. Trump often criticized during the campaign.

Bringing Ambassador Bolton into the administration as Deputy Secretary of State would set-up a tough confirmation battle with many of the harshest barbs coming from Senator Paul and the noninterventionist Right, but Bolton’s inside knowledge of who does what at State would make him an invaluable asset if Donald Trump really wants to drain the swamp at Foggy Bottom.

The nomination of “Mr. Outside,” Rex Tillerson, as Secretary of State would mark the fulfillment of another important campaign promise by President-elect Trump, but to fulfill his promise to drain the swamp Donald Trump needs a “Mr. Inside.” Although it may be a difficult pill for some of our fellow non-interventionists to swallow, we can think of no one more qualified for that role than Ambassador John Bolton.

Trump has an opportunity to put Conservative Afro Americans in key positions.
There are Alan Keyes, Henry Cain, Alan West just to name a few. Now is the time to show that conservatives are not RACISTS as we are always depicted by the left. Bolton is certainly not a good choice he is all for NSA spying activity.

Alan Keyes was UN Ambassador so he has experience and he is a true American.
I hope some one tell Trump to use this opportunity and do not waste it and wait for the next election trying to woe this minority group.

It really is some kind of double think to pose John Bolton as anything other than a regime change interventionist darling of the likes of Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Marco Rubio. Unrepentant cheerleader for the blunderous Iraq invasion, Bolton continues trolling for heavy handed regime change that has roiled the region with war and emigration; conditions that foster terror tactics and radical Islamic recruitment and unwitting support most recently in Syria. Bolton's forte is provocaton not diplomacy. Bolton does not have a team building management style either. At best, Bolton's consideration for any position is either a nod to neocons of the "Nabob" Review crowd that prefers a Hillary Court to continue regime change Utopianism; or, a hard nosed expendable negotiating chip to be tossed during confirmation hearings.

Secretary Of State leadership position is no place for a businessman. Only an experienced, tough with American interests at heart in foreign politics person can help this country now. Putting a businessman into that office just to get along with Russia does not qualify him for this extremely important post. Rand Paul's filibuster threat against John Bolton has Trump scared but if he has any guts at all, will appoint Bolton who would be a great end piece to match the one's he appointed at Defense and Intelligence.